Considering a DIY Funeral?

Not a task to be undertaken lightly, a DIY funeral (or, more accurately, a do-it-at-home funeral) can be a very personal experience but also a very difficult process. I suggest that if itis something you wish to do, do it with the help and advice of a good funeral home. I would advise also that this is something you plan ahead for (before the person dies).


A few things to note:
• A body can – and probably will – leak bodily fluids if not properly prepared;• If you wish for the body to be stored at home until the service, the family will need to keep it in a ventilated and cool room;
• A number of factors affect the speed of decomposition, even if the body is kept in a cool place. Be prepared for this;
• Embalming is not a legal requirement (In Ireland) unless the body is leaving the country. However, embalming is sanitary and preserving and allows the body to be presentable for viewing. Only a professional embalmer should do embalming;
• You can make or purchase your own coffin. Walmart and Costco in the US now sell coffins online. In the UK, William Warren (www.williamwarren.co.uk) provides instructions to make a bookcase, called ‘Shelves for Life’, based on your measurements, which can be turned into a coffin upon your death (more on that in a separate post)
• You will have to take care of certain issues that the funeral director typically deals with, such as booking the slot at the crematorium, appointing a priest or another person to deliver the service, arranging transport for the coffin, and grave-digging if a burial is involved;
• You cannot legally bury a body anywhere in Ireland. You must get permission first from your local County Council to do so, and approval from a Health Inspector to avoid human remains from polluting the water systems, etc;
• If you are opting for cremation after the DIY service, check with the crematorium that they will accept the body as you have prepared it. Some crematoriums may have an issue accepting bodies that are not in a coffin bought from an undertaker or arrive other than by hearse.

I See Dead People: Dreams and Visions of the Dying

So....watch this talk. PLEASE. I think it's great. Seriously. I had a similar experience (well I didn't but I heard about it through my mother) when my grand mother passed away 10 years ago. 

I lived in Washington DC 10 years ago and was training for a marathon in Miami. I got a call Friday morning at 930am to say my grandmother had been brought into hospital with panic attacks. I was flying to Miami the following day. My phone rang at 930 pm on the Friday night and I knew immediately that she was gone. I spoke with my mom about her final hours and she said the strangest thing (I thought at the time). She asked my mom when was I next home and when she replied two weeks, my grandmother sighed in resignation. Mom said she knew she wouldn't be around to see me. Then all of a sudden she looked sad and when my mom asked her why she replied "I really liked this world." So she completely knew that she was dying and that it was going to happen soon. 

This Ted Talk is very interesting and I completely agree with Dr. Christopher Kerr. In fact, Id love to know more - does anyone have any experience similar to mine or his?

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Facebook Legacy Settings

Social media is everywhere these days and it even stays with us in death. We can create memorial pages for loved ones, document their lives via video and photo and now as of February 12th Facebook have followed Google and announced a new policy – Legacy Pages.

Previously, if a person died without someone else knowing their password, there was no way to make any changes. The most awkward of this was the daily reminders to ‘friends’ of birthdays, friend suggestions etc even though the person would never accept the friend request or see the brithday message as they wre deceased. The only way to delete the account was to know the passowrd or show a death certificate and practivally fight with Facebook to close the account.

Now, however, while you are still alive, you name someone else you know on Facebook to be your legacy contact. That person can make changes to memorialize your account. 

This includes:

• Writing a new post/status to show at the top of the memorialized Timeline – maybe some information about a memorial or service.

• Respond to new friend requests from family and friends who were not yet connected on Facebook .

• Updating the profile picture and cover photo (sometimes this is needed where the updated photo is a bit more approriate).

So how can you use this new ‘Legacy’ Setting’?

Open your Facebook SETTINGS tab, choose SECURITY and then LEGACY CONTACT at the bottom of the page. After choosing your legacy contact, you’ll have the option to send a message to that person letting them know what you’ve done.

An Eco funeral

What is an Eco Funeral?

Eco means reducing the amount of C02 that will be produced from your funeral.
Think about the suppliers you will use, the products you will buy and how you can reduce, reuse and recycle. How far will your Suppliers/Supplies have to travel to get to your desired venue? Your funeral can still be everything you desire and have that ‘life celebration’ factor without costing the earth.

Venue

• Can you cut down on travel and have both ceremony and reception at the one venue?
• When talking with a venue ask them what their Environmental policies are and include carbon footprint, fair-trade goods and recycling in your questions.
• Does your venue buy local and/or organic produce? Will they offer you an organic alternative if you wish?
•  

Order of Service

• Try having family sending out the order of service via email
• Use recycled paper or from handmade paper
• Ask people to recycle the order of service at the bottom of the page.
• Use your imagination and give people something creative like something they can use again or even eat!

The Vessel

• Consider a cardboard coffin, woolen or  bamboo or other biodegradable container 
• For your dress use organic materials such as silk and cotton bought from fair-trade suppliers
• Perhaps have your body dressed in a biodegradable cloth such as cotton.

Flowers

• Try sourcing local and seasonal wildflowers. This will you cut emissions that would be generated by delivery.  
• For centrepieces, use oxygen producing potted plants or candles with green foliage.
• Are the Florists flowers organically grown in season?
• Do they recycle & compost? Does the florist work with farmers who follow sustainable practices?

Burial

• Choose a green graveyard for burial.  
• Choose a living marker for your grave plot site such as a tree.

Alternatives

• Opt out of embalming
• New upcoming Irish service Ecolation could be the answer for you if you are preplanning a purely ecological end of life exit.

The Disney Files - Jerry Orbach aka Lumière

Jerome Bernard "Jerry" Orbach (October 20, 1935 – December 28, 2004) 

American actor and singer, he was well known for his roles as Detective Lennie Briscoe in Law & Order from 1992 to 2004, Harry McGraw in the hit series Murder She Wrote 1985–1991 and as the voice of Lumière in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

1992 64th Annual Academy Awards LIVE performance
(If it wont play click here)

Perhaps not as commonly known, Orbach was also a noted musical theatre star. Prominent character roles that he originated include El Gallo in The Fantasticks (the longest-running musical play in history), Chuck Baxter in Promises (for which he won a Tony Award), Julian Marsh in 42nd Street; and Billy Flynn in Chicago.

In early December 2004, it was announced that Orbach had been receiving treatment for prostate cancer which he had been living with for 10 years previous. He died at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York on December 28, 2004.

The day after his death, the marquees on Broadway were dimmed in mourning, one of the highest honors of the American theatre world.

One of his wishes while he was alive was to have his eyes donated after his death. In death he helped two people – one who needed correction for a nearsighted eye and another who needed correction for a farsighted eye.

Before I Die - Dublin's Bucket List